AND TONIGHT SHE WILL BE HUNG!
by Marie-626
Summary: When the kingdom of Athemo is taken over by an evil tyrant a group of rebels is brought together by the prisoned prince's best friend and a thief. Will they save the kingdom? Or will failure consume them?
1. Dance For Me Boy

Once upon a time in a faraway land called Athemo lived a young boy by the name of Shorin. Born into a wealthy family he had everything he could possibly dream of. At the tender age of thirteen the kingdom in which the boy lived was conquered by an evil man by the name of Arial, and he stripped the wealthy people of all their money so all his new people would live in poverty unable to rise up against him. The king and Queen were put to death and their only son was kept alive as entertainment to Arial... The former prince was given a new name of Tiyen and was chained all day to the throne of his father which now was occupied by Arial. Shorin being his best friend decided to rise up against Arial and rescue the kingdom...

Meanwhile in the Castle...

"Dance for me boy" Arial laughed poking his sword at the prince's bare feet.

The former royal was hardly recognizable in the rags he wore and his light brown hair now long and shaggy hiding his brilliant blue eyes. He moved out of the way of the sword quickly causing Arial to shriek with pleasure.

It had been five years since Arial took over Athemo and Tiyen had barely any memories outside the castle.. Or even outside the throne room. One would think Arial would grow tired of torturing the 18 year old boy but he never did.

"Bring me water" Arial commanded and a pretty half dressed servant girl hurried to do so. She returned momentarily with the cup in her hand and she giggled as she poured it into the older man's mouth.

"Thank you Marie" Arial said placing his hand on her thigh.

This sickened Tiyen to no end. The whole castle was redesigned for the pleasure of the conqueror. Servants girls were there to flirt.. As were any other girl in the castle.

"Does Tiyen want some water?" Arial asked Marie grinning evilly.

She giggled and dipped her finger into the water and approached the famished boy. She pressed her wet finger against his dry lips for a brief second to give him hope then she pulled it away and licked it herself. "Tasty" She murmured softly.

"Excellent Marie!" Arial said pleased with her once more. "However perhaps the dog would care for some water" He said taking the cup and placing it down on the ground and then walked out of the room followed obediently by Marie.

Tiyen crawled towards the cup and found the chains that held him would not allow him to reach the cup of water however he tugged.


	2. A Girl?

"Can't catch me"

Racing through the crowded streets of the market was a young girl no older than sixteen. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back out of her slightly tanned-face. Her brown eyes darted around frantically for a place to hide.

Spotting a small alley she slipped in without the knowledge of her pursuers who ran right by.

She laughed and about five minutes later began to run in the opposite direction into the forest.

"Emma!"

She spun around to see her best friend Henry running towards her with a bowl of fruits. "Fine morning this is no guards were in sight when I swiped these" He said laughing.

"Yeah 'cuz they were on my tail all morning"

The two entered a clearing where about ten boys lay sleeping around a dead fire that had been lit the night before.

"Everyone up we've got breakfast" Emma yelled tossing the bag of breads she held towards them.

The boys began to eat and Henry pulled Emma aside. "A boy was talkin' in the market today. He was a'sayin that he was tryin to gather a group of people to fight the conqueror"

"Stupid fool. He must know we are no match for Arial, we have no weapons, and not enough fighters...foolish"

"I think we should help him Em"

"And why is that?"

"Because what if we had a chance?"

"We don't"

"Just talk to him"

"Fine. Bring him here now. Don't waste my time" Emma said nodding curtly and walking off.

Henry sprinted towards the marketplace knowing exactly where to find the boy. He stopped by the blacksmith and knocked on the door.

"Come in"

Entering the dark room, Henry spotted the boy lying against the wall.

"Can I help you?" The blacksmith asked.

"I need to see Shorin for just a moment if you please sir"

The man nodded and the boy quickly got up and followed him out.

"What's all this about?" Shorin demanded to know brushing his brown hair from his hazel-colored eyes.

"I need you to convince my leader that she should join the rebellion"

"I don't need the help of no girls" Shorin muttered.

"She's gonna be a better help than you think" Henry said rolling his eyes and dragging Shorin towards the forest.

It was a calm spring morning and dawn had just passed. Surprisingly, most of the townspeople were already awake, trying to get their food before the guards began having their fun tormenting the buyers and shopkeepers,

They entered the clearing and Emma turned around to see the two boys coming.

"This is Emma" Henry said to Shorin motioning towards the thief girl.

Shorin was taken aback. How was this girl supposed to help him? She was no taller than 5 feet and was quite petite. He knew Henry was showing him to a girl but he didn't expect such a small one.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen" Emma answered " Now don't be wasting my time I got things to do. You want us to be joining your rebellion"

"Yes...and-"

" And we don't got weapons or notin?"

"No we do have"

"Oh really?" Em asked grinning. "Where would we be gettin' these weapons from?"

"I work for a blacksmith...well I don't really work for him he's my paps. So I could go swipe a few things from him before he gives them to the soldiers." Shorin answered calmly.

"Calm on Em, he can't do this without us and none of us is ok with Arial anyway right? Makes our jobs much harder" Henry said grinning. The rest of the camp laughed at this knowing that it didn't really matter if there was jobs for them or not 'cuz they just stole from other anyway.

"Fine but I'm not taking orders from him" Em answered cooly.

"I'm in charge honey. If you listen to me I might save you from getting killed a few times"

She drew her knife and within a second had it pressed up against his neck. "Don't play with me boy, I'm doing you a favor"

He nodded and she backed away. "Boys!" She yelled and the thieves all turned towards her. "Go get your knives we be raiding the castle tonight"

Then she turned back to Shorin. "You got a name boy?"

"Shorin, and you are Emma no?"

She nodded. "And what makes you so eager to go tramping into the castle?"

He bit his lip. "My best friend is a prisoner there and he deserves to be king of the throne, so I've sworn to myself that I would fight for him."

"Noble friend" She muttered. "So do you have a plan?"

Shorin nodded. "There is a ball tonight... a masquerade, and we are going to be attending"


	3. Like an Emerald

"You look Beautiful"

Emma fidgeted in her dress. The gown she had stolen was a bit to tight on her. It was white with pearls all along the waistline. Her mask was white as well, and her hair was curled and down.

It had been easy for them to get into the ball, Emma had distracted the guards for a few minutes while the rest of the boys had snuck in without invitations. Most of them had separated now.

Arial was sitting on the main chair watching everyone dance.

Emma tried to avoid being asked to dance as she headed straight towards the tyrant.

"Your highness" She said kindly bowing to Arial. "It is an honor to be here" She noticed that chained up beside the tyrant was the prince, looking famished and tired.

"Such a beautiful girl" Arial said smiling evilly and standing up to kiss her hand. "I am honored that you have come"

Emma forced herself to blush at his comment. "You are to kind milord."

He put his hand on her waist and stroked her curls. Then her turned to his guards "Watch the boy" He said cooly and then turned back his attention to Emma. "Do you have a name?" He asked.

"It's whatever you want it to be milord" She responded.

He brought her closer. "Clever girl"

It was then she noticed the key hanging on Arial's waistband. Her held her hand in his however so she made no attempt to reach for it just yet.

He led her out of the ballroom, they were being followed by two guards. Emma began to worry, but pushed her fears away.

"Well if I must choose a name for you then let's think. You are like a gem...but no ordinary gem...more like an emerald-"

"You are to kind sir"

"So perhaps I should call you Emma for short..isn't that right thief girl?"...

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


End file.
